OTTAWA – Native protesters across Canada pounded their drums in unison Friday demanding treaty negotiations between Ottawa and aboriginal chiefs throughout the country.

Supporters of the 18 Idle No More rallies staged throughout the continent say their resistance to the Harper Government is just beginning. Many have said they will block roads, continue marching and, in the most extreme cases, refuse to recognize the budget bill that has galvanized frustrations within the aboriginal community.

“This is people saying we believe our future is at stake, that if we don’t act now, (aboriginals) will be taken off the map,” said Tanya Kappo, who founded the Idle No More campaign in November.

Kappo admits she never expected to start a nationwide movement when she first used the Twitter hashtag #idlenomore. The 41-year-old law school graduate was organizing a conference on the Conservative omnibus budget bill when she wrote the tweet that would spark dozens of protests, hunger strikes and highway blockades throughout Canada.

Between 800 to 1000 people gathered on Victoria Island in Ottawa Friday, where Theresa Spence is staging an 11-day-old hunger strike for aboriginal sovereignty, and marched to Parliament Hill. Spence insists she’ll starve herself to death of the Prime Minister doesn’t negotiate better living conditions for the country’s natives.

Women chanted traditional songs and men beat their drums loudly as snow barreled onto the crowd. Some drove from as from as far away as Alberta to attend the rally.

“There was never any question in my mind, we have to march we have to keep marching until we see change,” said Piinaakoyim Tailfeathers, who drove 36 hours from his Blackfoot community in southern Alberta to march on Parliament Hill. “We want a better life for our people, we want to live together in peace with Canadians but we also want our treaty rights recognized.”

Amendments to the Indian Act ratified by the Tories’ budget bill would allow aboriginal people to sell their land to non-natives, according to Kappo and legal experts within the Fist Nations community. Kappo says the loss of reserve land would result in a slow erosion of indigenous culture, language and sovereignty.

The Tories say Indian Act changes will allow businesses to lease rather than buy land on reserves. Also the land leases could only be approved through a community vote, said Jan O’Driscoll, a spokesperson for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.

But the new laws are only one of the many grievances Canada’s First Nations people have with the federal government. Rampant poverty, chronic underfunding of aboriginal education and the alarmingly high level of violence faced by aboriginal women were also cited.

New laws outlined in the budget bill also remove environmental regulations from thousands of lakes and streams throughout Canada, which has prompted environmentalists to join the Idle No More movement. All three opposition parties and the Postal Workers Union of Canada have essentially endorsed the growing campaign.

Assembly of First Nations chief Shawn Atleo took centre stage at the Ottawa rally, speaking to a crowd at the foot of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. The National Chief called on non-Natives to join Idle No More.

“Is this the moment we achieve real change,” he asked demonstrators. The crowd responded with a booming “Yes!” followed by boisterous applause.

But the founders of Idle No More have repeated that this movement is, at its core, a grassroots campaign. Kappo said she doesn’t want to see politicians or the AFN co-opt a protest that began as a collaborative effort between mothers across different First Nations.

However it appears the campaign is being embraced by aboriginal chiefs, who are using their resources and political connection to coordinate direct actions against the federal government.

“There’s a time to sit down with the government and there’s a time to stand up,” said Serge Simon, grand chief of the Kanesatake Mohawks. “We’ve been to the negotiating table and what has it gotten us? The honour of the Crown is at stake here, we think it’s time they act in our best interest.”

Simon is the father of a special needs child and he says there isn’t nearly enough federal funding to provide the kind of care his son needs. The chief gave up his salary in 2011 to help keep his band council’s finances afloat.

He says he’s in negotiations with chiefs across Quebec to launch a series of highway blockades across the province if conditions on reserves don’t improve.

Meanwhile, in the Northern Ontario Anishinabek community Friday, Idle No More protestors blocked a railway that passes through their territory.

“Today is only the beginning,” said Cy Standing, who flew from the his Dakota reserve in Saskatchewan to be in Ottawa Friday. “My kids are marching, their kids are marching, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”